Trump gives Gaetz a black eye – Labornedesburalistes

President-elect Trump suffered a self-inflicted black eye with the withdrawal of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) from consideration for attorney general.

Trump surprised even some of his supporters by picking Gaetz for the crucial position at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Now, he’s trying to move on as quickly as possible by nominating another pro-MAGA figure in Florida — former state Attorney General Pam Bondi — to take Gaetz’s place as nominee.

In a statement on social media, Trump hailed Bondi as someone who could “refocus” the DOJ on fighting crime after it was “weaponized” against him. Critics who remember Bondi leading chants of “shut her up!” against Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Republican National Convention might be skeptical of that claim.

In any case, Trump has suffered some damage during the short time of Gaetz’s nomination.

The former congressman — who resigned from his seat just days ago on the heels of his appointment by Trump — has been a divisive figure on Capitol Hill, even aside from the lurid allegations that have swirled around his behavior personal.

His reputation for craft and self-promotion meant that any reservoir of goodwill among his colleagues was shallow indeed. It was looking more and more likely that his confirmation would fail if he went ahead.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters Thursday that it’s “pretty obvious” that Gaetz doesn’t have the votes to prevail in a Senate vote.

Other Republican senators also expressed relief or approval of Gaetz’s unexpectedly sudden decision to step aside. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) told reporters it was “appropriate,” while Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) hailed the move as a “positive development”

Once the new Congress convenes, Republicans will have a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, meaning any Trump nominee can’t afford to lose more than three GOP votes, assuming all Democrats vote against it.

Gaetz announced his retirement on social media, writing that he was “becoming a distraction” for the incoming administration.

The president-elect intended to strike a defiant note with his leadership picks, eschewing GOP figures from his first term who his inner circle argued undermined the administration from within. This time, MAGA loyalists are set to fill the ranks.

The wisdom and effectiveness of this strategy are now seriously in question. And the same clouds of doubt that have dogged Gaetz’s chances could still cast a shadow over other controversial Trump nominees.

There are a number of other questionable Trump picks, with most of the scrutiny, post-Gaetz, falling on media personality Pete Hegseth, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The trio are Trump’s nominees to become Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, and Secretary of Health and Human Services, respectively.

Hegseth is perhaps the most imperiled after it emerged that he reached a non-disclosure agreement with a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017. The agreement required Hegseth to pay the woman an undisclosed amount of money.

No criminal charges were filed in the matter, and Hegseth’s attorney portrayed him as the victim of a sexually assertive woman who wanted to hide a consensual extramarital affair from her husband.

Still, people around Trump are said to be upset that they didn’t know anything about the 2017 episode until it became public through The Washington Post. The nature of the allegations has also become clearer in recent days, despite the non-disclosure agreement with the complainant.

First, someone who knows the woman wrote a lengthy note to the Trump team about what she believed happened during the incident at a hotel in Monterey, California. The note then leaked.

Several media organizations later sought and received the 22-page police report on the incident.

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told CNN: “This police report confirms what we’ve said all along, that the incident was fully investigated and the police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges have been filed “.

It is true that no charges were filed, although the police do not appear to have explicitly concluded that the assault allegation was false.

The questions about Gabbard and Kennedy are more about their opinions than personal peccadilloes.

Gabbard’s approaches to foreign policy are described by critics as overly sympathetic to Russia. Kennedy has a history of deep skepticism about vaccines, as well as many other controversial comments, particularly about the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are still several Trump nominees who will get some attention, including TV personality Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicaid and Medicare. Oz has previously been criticized for promoting unproven diet drugs on his television show.

There were some suggestions when Gaetz was first nominated that he would be a “sacrificial lamb” that would allow GOP senators to show their independence by voting for him — only to vote to confirm another Trump pick .

But that seems pretty fanciful, given Trump’s tendency to simply pick people he likes or who have shown loyalty, and the fact that Gaetz dropped out extremely early.

In fact, Republican senators who are skeptical of Trump’s picks now have even more freedom to reject other names.

It is important not to overstate the importance of the Gaetz ignition rate, of course. Trump remains in a strong position after winning back the White House with the best performance in any of the three presidential elections he has contested. He maintains an extremely firm grip on the GOP.

But that was an early miscalculation that takes some of the shine off Team Trump, even within his own party. It also limits the room for subsequent missteps.

Memo is a column reported by Niall Stanage.

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